Posted on 07/19/2002 1:59:31 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
Edited on 04/23/2004 12:04:39 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
You would think that the more militant forms of Islam would be enough to worry about these days, for those inclined to anguish over religious extremism. But no. Apparently the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod deserves our special concern. In late June, the church suspended the Rev. David Benke, the president of its Atlantic District and the pastor of a Brooklyn church, for praying with clerics who don't share the Christian faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Is it compassion to allow one to languish in their error and not do as commanded and preach the gospel? That is the question.
Man today is so self centered and operates on the idea of "pleasure" they can not look to eternity to see the consequences of their behavior.
As ones that call the name of Christ we must be faithful
The LCMS is on the money on this.
I will say that obedience to the word of God has never been popular with unregenerate man.....the louder the protest the more correct the response I am afraid!
Very succinctly and well said - an apparent paradox that isn't. God wants all to be saved, as seen in 1 Timothy 2: 1-6, but expecially v. 4:
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
When we come to faith, it is all the Holy Spirit's doing. If we reject faith, it is all our doing.
Yes, it currently looks that way. But there is a mighty struggle going on inside the LCMS - the liberal president Kieschnick, the liberal Atlantic District president Benke, and their supporters are using this episode to push their agenda. The LCMS is a quickly becoming a split church body, between those who favor biblical doctrine, and those who favor the lukewarm feel-good self-affirming type of pop Christianity that is so prevalent now.
I will say that obedience to the word of God has never been popular with unregenerate man.....the louder the protest the more correct the response I am afraid!
How right you are! Those of us inside the LCMS can tell that we are being obediant to God's Word, because on top of being true to the Word of God, never before in our synod have so many protested so loudly that we aren't being "compassionate" or "tolerant"! Its also heartwarming to see that Christian brothers and sisters in other denominations also recognize the efforts of those who would try to obsure the Word of God so that the people do not hear the Gospel. Just like the Catholic pedophile priest scandal hurts not only the Catholic church, but all of Christendom, so does unrepentant Lutheran syncretists.
You are right about the Wall Street Journal not wanting to publish too much Scripture. I was surprised to see the amount that did!
Thanks for posting this article, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it.
A word of encouragment from OUR savior
Luk 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you [from their company], and shall reproach [you], and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
...Lest we fall under Christ's condemnation: "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Woe to those "tolerant", "diverse", and "ecumenical" clergy and believers who are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
OK, I'll bite once. Based on reading your previous posts, I doubt it will make a difference, but I pray that the Holy Spirit would some day lead you to the truth.
Being somewhat of a amateur geneologist myself, I know that there are a number of ways to look at recording geneologies. I started with a geneology that my aunt had put together, but my way of organizing the geneological line looks much different than hers. With this in mind, please consider the following:
Here is a footnote to Luke 3:23-28 in the Concordia Self-Study Bible (NIV): "From Abraham to David, the genealogies of Matthew and Luke are almost the same, but from David on they are different. Some scholars suggest that this is because Matthew traces the legal descent of the house of David using only heirs to the throne, while Luke traces the complete line from Joseph to David. A more likely explanation, however, is that Matthew follows the line of Joseph (Jesus' legal father), while Luke emphasizes that of Mary (Jesus' blood relative). Although tracing a genealogy through the mother's side was unusual, so was the virgin birth. Luke's explanation here that Jesus was the son of Joseph, "so it was thought" (v. 23), brings to mind his explicit virgin birth statement (1:34-35) and suggests the importance of the role of Mary in Jesus' genealogy."
I have not come across a scholar who believes that these books were written by disciples of Jesus.
Perhaps you haven't been looking hard enough or you just need to expand your circle of scholarly friends. Here you could include at least a majority of Roman Catholic theologians, a dwindling majority of Protestant theologians, a super-majority in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LC-MS) a very small minority in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and 100% of the theologians in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and the Church of the Lutheran Confession.
Just because you personally don't happen to know any scholar that disputes your view doesn't make this a valid arguement. May the Holy Spirit bless your study of the ENTIRETY of the Word, rather than snippets that appear to suit your denial of God's Word. May I suggest the book of Galatians to begin with?
God Bless
A fine rhetorical question.
I will say that obedience to the word of God has never been popular with unregenerate man.....
The Bible acknowledges this itself. Man, created originally in the image of God, is now without spiritual goodness, utterly depraved by reason of sin into which Adam fell. He is spiritually blind, dead, an enemy of God and doomed to eternal damnation, being incapable of redeeming himself by any means whatsoever.
Genesis, Chapter 3.
Genesis 8:21 ...for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth;
Psalms 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Ephesians 2:3 ...we all ... were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
In the darkness of their wicked hearts men, left to themselves, have "worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator." "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." (Romans 1:22-25). This describes not only the gods of the pagans, but those professed by all unchristian organizations and in many churches as well, some of which have abandoned the tenets of their historic faith.
You haven't looked very hard, then. In fact, the direction scholarship is heading is toward a very early, entirely Apostolic authorship for most of the books of the NT. Current scholarship puts the Gospel of Matthew as early as AD 40, for example.
I thought I'd heard it all, but to know now that God will not listen to any prayers but the Fullly Immersed fundamentalists, now there's a new height. For fun, I like perusing the Landover Baptist site.
A little sarcasm perhaps?
How about the Lightly Sprinkled "fundamentalists"??? (Lutherans believe the method of baptism is adiophora, as long as the Word and water are used - most use a small baptismal font rather than a dunking tank, although both are valid means to baptise.)
By the way, which part of "I [Jesus] am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) don't you understand? If you pray to God in Jesus' name, He will hear you.
Personally I do not much care about what the non Lutherans in the crowd thought I care about what God thought
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